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Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

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Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#71

Post by factotvm »

closetohome wrote: post #46
cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

Also could we maybe get an example of a person with a real job doing this? "Employee engagement" isn't exactly the kind of thing that requires, you know, faculties.

Employee engagement sounds like talking to people, and that would drain me much faster than programming.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#72

Post by mruts »

astura wrote: post #60
milesvp wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Children tend to be solar powered. Getting them to bed before 10pm in mid summer nights can be a real challenge in northern latitudes. Black out curtains really help. But starting the bedtime routine when the sun is out is a real chore. I honestly have no idea how Alaskans get their kids to sleep at all in the summer.

I really can't agree its "a challenge", I went to bed at 8pm every single evening as a young child. I remember it being still light out in the summer when I was went to bed, but there wasn't a choice, I was to be in bed, so I went to bed with a groan. Same with my siblings, we were all in bed at 8pm sharp every single day, no exceptions. It's about setting firm rules and sticking to them.

And my parents made me go to bed at 8pm but I stayed awake until 2am. I’m not sure of the point you’re trying to make.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#74

Post by caconym_ »

cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

I do this. I exercise, chill out, and then write fiction for a few hours before I go to work.

I wouldn't say I'm an overachiever but I do work at a fairly high-pressure, competitive BigCorp. Haven't been fired yet, and my performance reviews are fine. The truth is that if somebody else owns 100% of your highest level creative output, he owns your soul too, and I'm just not down for that.

It does mean making sacrifices in other areas, but for me personally the alternatives are worse. Obviously not everybody has the luxury of so much (theoretical) free time.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#75

Post by vinceguidry »

JohnFen wrote: post #68
vinceguidry wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, now I get to trot out my framework for determining whether something is an opportunity or not. There are three basic ways to get ahead, a) to climb a ladder up a mountain, b) to build a ladder up a mountain that already exists, c) or to build a mountain. Only the first qualifies as an opportunity. Most 'opportunities' are really just directions to places on mountains to build ladders, or places where no mountain…

In my view, an opportunity (in a business sense) is when you find a need people have that isn't being adequately fulfilled. You capitalize on the opportunity by fulfilling it. 99% of the time, you don't need a few millions to do this. I'm not talking about "getting ahead" in the sense that you seem to be. That's a different, and much more complicated, topic.

To enter a market you need to build a firm and develop a product. This requires non-trivial time and resources and is risky. Without the resources you can only try it a few times in a lifetime. With the resources, you can keep trying until you find success.

It's building a ladder up a mountain that already exists.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#76

Post by caconym_ »

closetohome wrote: post #46
cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

Also could we maybe get an example of a person with a real job doing this? "Employee engagement" isn't exactly the kind of thing that requires, you know, faculties.

Yo. AMA.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20899933

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#77

Post by Godel_unicode »

cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

It's amazing to me how many of the responses in this thread missed the "and" clause in the first sentence. If you're getting up early and your kids get up an hour or so after you, you don't have "5 hours of free time[sic]".

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#78

Post by crispyporkbites »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #65
cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

Children. I get up about 4:45 AM. Thirty minutes for myself, then microwave my son's bottle. Twenty minutes to get him ready, if I'm lucky, then twenty more to get to a diner that opens at 6 for breakfast. Daycare opens at 6:30, at work at 7AM. Don't work more than 10 hours because daycare closes at 6PM. Yeah, Before Children (BC) the World is your oyster.

At least you get one day off every week if you’re doing 10 hours a day, right?

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#79

Post by navbaker »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #65
cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

Children. I get up about 4:45 AM. Thirty minutes for myself, then microwave my son's bottle. Twenty minutes to get him ready, if I'm lucky, then twenty more to get to a diner that opens at 6 for breakfast. Daycare opens at 6:30, at work at 7AM. Don't work more than 10 hours because daycare closes at 6PM. Yeah, Before Children (BC) the World is your oyster.

The good thing about children is every phase will pass. Them waking uber early will gradually lessen and you will be able to get up a bit early and enjoy some time to yourself. I’m finally past the super early phase with my second and I can now get up early and play guitar with no interruptions.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#80

Post by irrational »

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm.

I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciate it if someone could add about 6 more hours to every day.

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